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spiritually as a sister; hasten, lady, hasten to heal your bridegroom. You who are betrothed, separate yourself from every attachment, having your whole heart and whole soul and whole mind lovingly toward your own bridegroom. If this is so for what is corruptible and fleeting, how much more so then for what is incorruptible and immortal? Thus ought we also (the word is for all) to be disposed toward the Lord and Master and not to take our fill of longing for him, and in this to be removed from all corrupting pleasure and attachment, because he too is lovingly disposed toward us and is, as it were, enraptured by his infinitely great love; For was it not for your sake that he, being God, took the form of a slave, which the iconoclasts now dishonor? Did he not become poor, though he was rich? Did he not endure all afflictions, insults, spittings, blows, scourgings, the cross and death? Thus ought each soul to be disposed, as if the sufferings were for it alone, though they were for all, and to cherish and to love and to desire equally to suffer in return; and if it happens that one is not permitted to endure these things, yet the intention is accepted as a deed, so generous is the good God. These things not as if you did not have them in mind, but as one of like mind with you in the Lord. 414 {1Θεοφίλῳ τῆς Ἐφέσου}1 Having lent the letter, I was eagerly expecting to receive the debt of love, but since I have not received it, I am pleased to lend again; for the loan is very sweet to me, that is, to converse with your sacred head which suffers for Christ's sake, or rather is crowned and adorned as a confessor. For not with the eyes with which the world sees, does the mind that sees God and divine things also look, because the one thinks that things that are corruptible and perishing are a share of good things, knowing badly and being deceived, while the other judges that alone to be blessed which does not define its well-being here, but is stored up in the age to come for a joy of boundless gladness. Thus seeing the things concerning your holiness, I, the wretched one, rejoice and rejoice with you, thrice-desired one. You despised earthly glory, you chose with Christ the humble and contemptible things, or rather affliction and distress, blows and exiles. How blessed are your deeds, how praiseworthy are your sufferings, proclaimed in the east and west, recorded in the heavens, gladdening angels, delighting confessors and martyrs, branding demons and the iconoclasts who are of like mind and like manner to them. Rightly therefore do I exult with you, father of fathers; but I ask you to pray also for me who am wretched in all things, that I may not fall away from following in your footsteps. 415 {1Ναυκρατίῳ τέκνῳ}1 We have been late in writing to you, beloved child, but it is because here too persecution is raging, blows, bonds, imprisonments, so does he who holds us breathe wrath and threats, and seizes and punishes the pious who are found here and there; who, as he was leaving the city (for he is now staying there), did not hesitate to say that "4I will ask the emperor to send a royal agent to certainly behead or even cut out tongues"5. I do not know, indeed, if the word will come to fulfillment; on which account we for our part have already made our farewells, guessing it to be so both from the man's malevolence and from the convergence of the bishops there; since, as they say, they are present, so that something of this kind might be carried out. But the servant, becoming fearful and trembling (since he had also been severely threatened beforehand by the arch-heretic himself, that if he were found even a little at fault, he should no longer live), was utterly afraid to give us paper and ink. Hence the delay. Then there arose as a hindrance also such a report, that you yourself were taken from prison, but also that for some unholy deed the Bishop of Sardis, which one was not specified, was beheaded. From both of these, therefore, came the hesitation. Nevertheless, we the humble have been counted worthy again to utter a sound into your ears, letting you know that we are well in body, and may it be said also in spirit, by your holy prayers along with those of my blessed father. But to what you yourself

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πνευματικῶς ὡς ἀδελφήν· ἐπείχθητι, κυρία, ἐπείχθητι θεραπεῦσαί σου τὸν νυμφίον. ἡ νυμφευθεῖσα, πάσης σχέσεως ἑαυτὴν ἀποδιίστασο, ὅλην τὴν καρδίαν καὶ ὅλην τὴν ψυχὴν καὶ ὅλην τὴν διάνοιαν ἐρωτικῶς πρὸς τὸν ἑαυτῆς νυμφίον ἔχουσα. εἰ τοῦτο ἐπὶ τοῦ φθαρτοῦ καὶ ῥέοντος οὕτως ἔχει, πόσῳ οὖν μᾶλλον ἐπὶ τοῦ ἀφθάρτου καὶ ἀθανάτου; οὕτως ὀφείλομεν (κοινὸς ὁ λόγος) καὶ ἡμεῖς διακεῖσθαι πρὸς τὸν Κύριον καὶ δεσπότην καὶ μὴ λαμβάνειν κόρον τοῦ πόθου αὐτοῦ, καὶ ἐν τούτῳ ἐξίστασθαι πάσης ἡδονῆς καὶ σχέσεως φθοροποιοῦ, ὅτι καὶ αὐτὸς ἐρωτικῶς πρὸς ἡμᾶς ἔχεται καὶ οἱονεὶ ἐξίσταται τῇ ὑπεραπείρῳ ἀγαπήσει· μὴ γὰρ οὐ διὰ σὲ θεὸς ὢν δούλου μορφὴν ἀνέλαβεν, ἣν νῦν ἀτιμάζουσιν οἱ εἰκονομάχοι; μὴ οὐκ ἐπτώχευσεν πλούσιος ὤν; μὴ οὐχ ὑπέμεινεν τὰ θλιβερὰ ἅπαντα, ὕβριτας, ἐμπτύσματα, ῥαπίσματα, μάστιγας, σταυρὸν καὶ θάνατον; οὕτως ὀφείλει ἑκάστη ψυχὴ διατίθεσθαι, ὡς ὑπὲρ αὐτῆς μόνης, κἂν ὑπὲρ πάσης, τὰ παθήματα, καὶ στέργειν καὶ ἀγαπᾶν καὶ ἐφίεσθαι ἐξ ἴσου ἀντιπεπονθέναι· κἂν τυχὸν οὐ παραχωρῆται ὑποῖσαι ταῦτα, καὶ ἡ πρόθεσις ἀποδέδεκται εἰς ἔργον, οὕτω τοῦ ἀγαθοῦ θεοῦ φιλοτιμουμένου. Ταῦτα οὐχ ὡς οὐκ ἐχούσης σου ἔναυλα, ἀλλ' ὡς συμψυχῶν σοι ἐν Κυρίῳ. 414 {1Θεοφίλῳ τῆς Ἐφέσου}1 ∆ανείσας τὸ γράμμα ἀπεκαραδόκουν λήψεσθαι τὸ χρέος τῆς ἀγάπης, ἀλλ' ἐπεὶ οὐκ εἴληφα, φιλῶ καὶ αὖθις δανεῖσαι· ἡδὺ γάρ μοι τὸ δάνειον λίαν, ἤγουν τῇ σῇ ἱερᾷ κορυφῇ διαλέγεσθαι διὰ Χριστὸν πασχούσῃ, μᾶλλον δὲ ὁμολογητικῶς στεφανουμένῃ τε καὶ καλλωπιζομένῃ. οὐ γάρ, οἷς ὀφθαλμοῖς βλέπει κόσμος, τούτοις ἀθρεῖ καὶ νοῦς ὁρῶν θεὸν καὶ θεῖα, ὅτι ὁ μὲν τὰ φθειρόμενα καὶ ἀπολλύμενα οἴεται τῶν ἀγαθῶν μοῖραν τυγχάνειν, κακῶς εἰδὼς καὶ πεπλανημένως, ὁ δὲ ἐκεῖνο καὶ μόνον κρίνων μακάριον, ὃ οὐκ ἐνταῦθα τὴν εὐπάθειαν ὁρίζοι, ἀλλ' εἰς τὸν μέλλοντα αἰῶνα ἐναποθησαυριζόμενον εἰς χαρὰν ἀπεράντου θυμηδίας. Οὕτω τὰ κατὰ τὴν ἁγιωσύνην σου ἐγὼ ὁ τάλας ὁρῶν χαίρω καὶ συγχαίρω σοι, τριπόθητε. περιεφρόνησας δόξης ἐπιγείου, εἵλου σὺν Χριστῷ τὰ ταπεινὰ καὶ ἐξουθενημένα, μᾶλλον δὲ θλῖψιν καὶ στε νοχωρίαν, πληγὰς καὶ ἐξορίας. ὡς μακάριά σου τὰ πρακτέα, ὡς αἰνετά σου τὰ παθήματα, ἀνατολῇ καὶ δύσει διαβοούμενα, ἐν οὐρανοῖς ἀπογραφόμενα, ἀγγέλους εὐφραίνοντα, ὁμολογητὰς καὶ μάρτυρας ἡδύνοντα, δαίμονας καὶ τοὺς τούτοις ὁμόφρονάς τε καὶ ὁμοτρόπους εἰκονομάχους στίζοντα. εἰκότως οὖν σοι συναγάλλομαι, πατροπάτορ· ἀλλ' αἰτῶ δέεσθαί σε καὶ περὶ ἐμοῦ τοῦ κατὰ πάντα οἰκτροῦ, ὡς ἂν μὴ ἀποπεσεῖν με τῆς κατ' ἴχνος ὑμῶν παραστάσεως. 415 {1Ναυκρατίῳ τέκνῳ}1 Ὠψίσθημεν ἐπιστεῖλαί σοι, τέκνον ἠγαπημένον, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ ἐνταῦθα διωγμὸς ζέων, πληγαί, δεσμά, φυλακαί, οὕτω τοῦ κατέχοντος ἡμᾶς πνέοντος θυμοῦ καὶ ἀπειλῆς καὶ τοὺς ὧδε κἀκεῖσε εὑρισκομένους εὐσεβεῖς συλλαμβάνοντός τε καὶ κολάζοντος· ὅς γε καὶ ἀπαίρων ἐν ἄστει (αὐτόθι γὰρ νῦν διατρίβει) οὐκ ὤκνησεν εἰπεῖν ὅτιπερ "4ἐξαιτήσομαι τὸν βασιλέα βασιλικὸν συνεπᾶραι εἰς τὸ πάντως ἀποκεφαλίσαι ἢ καὶ γλωσσοκοπῆσαι"5. οὐκ οἶδα μέν, εἰ ὁ λόγος εἰς πέρας ἔλθοι· ἐφ' ᾧ ἡμεῖς μὲν τὰ συντακτήρια ἤδη ἐποιησάμεθα καὶ ἄλλως στοχαζόμενοι ἔκ τε τῆς κακοηθείας τοῦ ἀνδρὸς καὶ τῆς συνδρομῆς τῶν ἐν τοῖς αὐτόθι ἐπισκόπων· ἐπείπερ, ὥς φασιν, πάρεισιν, ὅτι τοιοῦτόν τι ἀποτελεσθείη. ὁ δὲ ὑπηρέτης ἔμφοβος καὶ ἔντρομος γενόμενος (ἐπείπερ ἦν καὶ προαπειλούμενος σφόδρα πρὸς αὐτοῦ τοῦ ἀσεβάρχου, εἰ εὑρεθείη κἄν τι μικρὸν ὑπαίτιος, μηκέτι ζῆν) ἔδεισε παντάπασιν ἐπιδοῦναι ἡμῖν χάρτην καὶ μέλαν. ἐντεῦθεν ἡ βραδυτής. ἔπειτα προσεγένετο εἰς ἐμπόδιον καὶ ἀκοὴ τοιαύτη, ὅτι τοι αὐτὸς ἐπήρθης τῆς φυλακῆς, ἀλλ' ὅτι καὶ δι' ἀνοσιουργίαν τινὰ ὁ Σάρδης, ποῖος οὐχ ὡρισμένως, ἐκαρατομήθη. ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων οὖν ἡ ὑποκράτησις. ὅμως ὅτι ἠξιώθημεν οἱ ταπεινοὶ καὶ αὖθις ῥῆξαι φωνὴν εἰς τὰ ὦτά σου, γνωρίζοντές σοι ὅτι ἐρρώμεθα σώματι, εἴη δὲ εἰπεῖν καὶ πνεύματι, εὐχαῖς ὑμῶν ἁγίαις σὺν τοῦ μακαρίου μου πατρός. Πρὸς ἃ δὲ αὐτὸς